Kevin Spacey appears in court in Massachusetts
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Kevin Spacey, 62, will have to pay almost $31 million (£23m) to the production company MRC [Media Rights Capital], who created the hit Netflix series House Of Cards. It comes after he “violated their sexual harassment policy”, according to legal documents made public Monday.
MRC ended their professional relationship with the actor back in 2017, following multiple accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct.
They were forced to scrap season six of the show and promptly killed off his character, Frank Underwood.
The production company then filed the confidential arbitration demand in 2019 in an attempt to recoup their losses.
The hearing lasted eight days, in which the arbitrator ruled in favour of MRC.
A petition was then filed by the production company on Monday in a Los Angeles Superior Court, to confirm the arbitration award.
It stated: “With one exception, the arbitrator found the third party witnesses to be credible, and found the allegations against Spacey to be true.
“The award finds that Spacey’s conduct at issue in connection with the testifying crew members was in breach of both the acting and executive producing agreements.”
Spacey and his companies, M. Profitt Productions and Trigger Street Productions, were then ordered to pay $29.5 million in damages, $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees and $235,000 in other costs.
Express.co.uk has contacted Mr Spacey for comment.
It comes after the #MeToo movement in 2017 saw allegations arise against a number of powerful men in Hollywood over sexual assault.
It is understood that more than 30 different individuals made allegations of sexual misconduct against the disgraced movie star, with accounts ranging from harassment to attempted rape.
In accounts made public, a number of Spacey’s accusers describe the actor using his success and the opportunity of career mentorship to put himself in a position where he could then prey on young men.
In 2018, Spacey addressed the public in a bizarre video posted to his official Twitter account.
The video called Let Me Be Frank, a nod to his House of Cards character, saw the actor appear as Frank himself.
He appeared to tell the audience that he’s making a comeback, regardless of what they say they want.
“We’re not done, no matter what anyone says,” he said.
“And besides, I know what you want. You want me back.”
At the time, Netflix and Media Rights Capital released a statement informing the public they were suspending the show following the accusations against Spacey.
“MRC and Netflix have decided to suspend production on House of Cards season six until further notice to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew,” read a joint press statement.
MRC has claimed to have no knowledge of outstanding or unresolved complaints made against the actor.
They told CNN that there was a complaint made in 2012 where they took “immediate action following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved.”
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